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Charles Darwin, Evolution Theory - 1859 > 
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930s, and now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell’s uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author. Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin investigated the transmutation of species and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority. He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.
His 1859 book On the Origin of Species established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.
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More on this Website >
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin
• Darwin-online • Edit
• eCard Darwin online • Edit
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The Royal Society of London
The origins of the Royal Society lie in a group of men who began meeting in the mid-1640s to discuss the new philosophy. Its official foundation date is 28 November 1660,... |
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Alexander von Humboldt, Naturalist
Alexander von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835)... |
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Francis Beaufort, Beaufort Wind Force Scale
Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort, was a hydrographer and officer in Britain's Royal Navy. Beaufort was the creator of the Beaufort scale for indicating wind force.... |
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Robert FitzRoy, Captain of HMS Beagle
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy RN achieved lasting fame as the captain of HMS Beagle during Charles Darwin's famous voyage, and as a pioneering meteorologist who made accura... |
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Gregor Mendel, Father of Genetics
Gregor Johann Mendel was a Austrian priest and scientist, and is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. Mendel show... |
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Sir Francis Galton, Pioneer in Eugenics
Sir Francis Galton, half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an English Victorian polymath, anthropologist, eugenicist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist,... |
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Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, English naturalist, evolutionist, geographer, anthropologist, and social critic and theorist. Co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection and... |
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Thomas Henry Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley was one of the first adherents to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and did more than anyone else to advance its acceptance among sci... |
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Ernst Haeckel, German Naturalist
Ernst Haeckel was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapp... |
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Origin of Species, Darwin
It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and inf... |
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James Lovelock, Scientist
James Lovelock is the author of approximately 200 scientific papers, distributed almost equally among topics in Medicine, Biology, Instrument Science and Geophysiology. H... |
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Lynn Margulis, Scientist
Margulis realized that life’s most important division was not plants versus animals. Instead, the great divide came between bacteria and all other organisms—protoctists,... |
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DNA Code Cracked, Watson and Crick
James Watson & Francis Crick - It took an ex-physicist and a former ornithology student - along with some unwitting help from a competitor - to crack the secret of life.... |
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Darwin-online.org.uk
Darwin's private papers online - the largest publication of Darwin's papers in history. Read about it here. Browse the papers here.
This site contains Darwin's complet... |
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